BellaOnline Forums Travel and Culture African Culture Wearing a Khanga

I try to look at the searches done on my site every week or so. Someone did a search on "someone wearing a khanga". I didn't have any pictures, so I took out one of my khangas and had my daughter model it.

Here's the first picture:


Most East African women are seen wearing khangas over their skirts in this manner. The khanga keeps the dust and dirt of their nicer clothes.

Here's the same khanga being worn in a different manner:



My daughter has a t-shirt on underneath, but generally your wouldn't have that on. I've never seen a woman wear a khanga like this - this may be done in the privacy of her own home, perhaps. I did see this in a guide on khangas in a Nairobi bookstore. I wish I had bought the book...

One last picture of the African proverb on the back of the khanga:



To learn more about khangas, you can read my article What is a Khanga?

Nice, we went to Tanzania and brought back many of these,

Wow those are gorgeous! Is that the same general thing as they call a sarong in the Indian area? I have two now and love them. They are so versatile!

YES, it is very similar to a sarong. Actually the only differences I can really think of is that sarongs usually have fringe on the edges (and khangas don't) and a khanga is unique because of the swahili sayings, or proverbs that are on them. But other than that a khanga can be tied just like a sarong. I use my khangas for EVERYTHING!!! heheh, if you ever need any ideas or tips for tying your sarongs just let me know, I'm getting quite good with mine! Here are some more pics... One of my favorite uses is a couch cover because as you will see in the picture I have a very fuzzy cat!! It also makes a great headwrap when I am too lazy to mess with my hair. That other picture is me and my husband at The Wailers concert last weekend.

Those are all such great pictures. I love my sarongs and wouldn't mind adding a khanga to my wardrobe.

Jambo!
I brought a beautiful purple, black and white khanga back from Kenya and have worn it tied over one shoulder over a black turtleneck and slacks. Very dramatic!
I also like to use it as a window covering to keep the sun out of the kitchen in summer. (I don't have regular curtains or drapes.)
I was interested to read that the lettering on it is a proverb. Can anyone translate it for me?
Hata nikitenda wema binadamu siwema yao nimaovu.
Thanks!

I found an online Swahili dictionary for you

Hata - even
nikitenda - are actions
wema - good
binadamu - people
siwema - not good
yao - their
nimaovu - are evil

OK so what does it mean? Is it dangerous wearing something that says something you don't know about?

Even if they do good things, if a person is not good their actions are evil?

Thanks, Lisa. Translations are so difficult when we don't know anything about word positions, etc. in a language. And proverbs are particularly hard because they often use idioms that only make sense to someone who grew up with the language.
I will choose to think it means that even bad people can do good things, until someone who speaks Swahili tells me otherwise.

I'm sure Jeanne can ask one of her contacts and get the actual meaning!

It just amazes me that I've searched Google for quite a while and can't find that phrase *anywhere*. There are a lot of sites with Swahili proverbs and yours is mysterious!

I can get my daughter's uncle to translate that phrase for me.

Here is what I've come up with...

Hata - Until (let's use 'Even' - makes more sense)
nikitenda - If I do good (ni = I, ki = if, tenda = to do good)
wema - goodness
binadamu - a human being
siwema - not goodness (si = not, wema = good)
yao - their
nimaovu - I (something) wicked (ni = I, ma = this is the tense I can't figure out, ovu = to be wicked)

I've got a lot of guesses on this, but I can't quite put it together...


This is what I get between my two Swahili dictionaries. Swahili doesn't read straight through. Pronouns and nouns moderate each other in an odd order.

I'm thinking siwema yao is "Their not goodness" or "Their evilness" but I could be way off on that.

This might be something like "If I do good things, humans are good. If I do bad things, they are bad." Seems simplistic. Let's see what Uncle Steve has to say... LOL My Swahili is very rusty now that I haven't really spoken it for 15 years.

Or maybe something like "Even if a good human does good, their not goodness (evil deeds) ... I am wicked" something like that? Maybe?

I'm probably WAY off on this. I should have been in bed about an hour ago. LOL

I've sent this to Uncle Steve... hehehe We'll see what he says.

Ok, I just got an IM from Uncle Steve. LOL Here is his translation...

Hata nikitenda wema binadamu siwema yao nimaovu.

"If I practiced fairness, man is unfair and always evil"

Sorry it isn't a nicer proverb...

You takes what you get!
The khanga is beautiful, though.
Thanks for finding the translation for me, Jeanne.

Not at all! I own three khangas & only know the Swahili on one of them and that is the "Peace Corps" Khanga I own. I should pull out the other two & have Uncle Steve translate them for me

Jeanne, your daughter looks so lovely in the khanga. I have seen it worn the second way, with bare arms, and also like the second picture Busokelo posted. Another handy way I've seen it used is to wrap around a baby and tie the baby onto the mother's back.

the baby thing sounds cute. I bet i could do that with my dog.

It is cute, and very practical because the mother then has her hands free, but her baby is with her all the time.

Generally, you wouldn't be wearing a t-shirt under a khanga. I had my daughter do that for modesty reasons. She was about 8 years old when I took the picture. She's 14 now. LOL

Carrying a baby on the back is very common in Africa. Woman will do that & work in the field at the same time. I found a picture of Samburu women in Kenya carrying their babies this way. The woman in the foreground is wearing a khanga around her waist.

I think the baby is actually in a piece of fabric called a "kikoy" which is a striped fabric and usually larger than a khanga and also generally a heavier fabric.

As a non-person of color, would i look funny if i walked around in a khanga? I like the look. Not sure how to phrase this. What do people think?

I know that I would look extremely out of place wandering around New England in a khanga or other African garb.

However, I have taken other fabric that I've bought at a fabric store and wrapped it around my waist like a khanga & have had lots of compliments.

When I move to Florida - I think wearing a khanga would be ok - especially on the beach. My opinion it a matter of where you live and the environment you are in.

If I remember, Jilly, you have an animal print scarf that you've worn on some of out gatherings & I thought you were able to pull that off quite nicely.

Good answers, Jeanne, thank you. I will have to just give it a whirl. You are right, I do enough scarves anyway that it should not be too different.

The Khanga looks beautiful. I am glad to see how it looks, but even more interested in how to put it on!
Thank you!